The Last Running of the Dog?

 Three deer tread lightly

Through the dry mountain grass

Weary and wary.

 Tuesday, October 5, 2021

 The spell may be broken.

 For over 8 years now I’ve been focused on holding both the age group records for the Bull Dog 25 and 50ks. I knew those records were out of touch in my 50s but I thought if I stayed in shape I could grab them in my 60s.

 Saturday, I obtained half of my goal by running a 2:12:45 25k. The irony of that was I had completely forgotten that three years ago I had already broken the age group record with a 2:14.

 So enough of the 25k. However, while I do believe the 4:54 mark of the 50k would be possible next year. However, I feel I’ve run enough Bulldogs and other events have more appeal to me.

 Lately though I’ve been toying with the idea of training with poles to prep for some long fastpacking trips and if poles are allowed at Bulldog next year, it might be interesting to use them on the second loop and see how much help they would be.

 But that’s a long way off. What lessons were learned from Saturday that I can move forward with for the near future?

 First off, from reading Jason Koop’s ultra-running book and numerous articles, I’ve focused on hill training and high intensity intervals. It’s paid off. Although three years older I ran two minutes faster. I’m going to continue in that vein. Though I’ll tinker a bit with the structure of my intervals just to prevent the workouts from becoming stale.

 To try to continue to improve I know I’ve got to focus on the other side of the ledger, weight. At 145 I’m svelte, but my next goal is to drop 5 lbs. of fat and retain my strength. Strength to weight. At my age I’m not going to squeeze a whole lot more from the strength side of the equation so dropping a few pounds is the more promising way forward until I just chuck all this craziness and end my days gorging on pizza and gelato.

 Secondly, I was sucked into believing that my Cinderella slippers had been tightly placed on my feet. That’s a firm – under the right circumstances. The Salomon Pulsars felt great except on the long steep downhill portion of the race. Typically, lightweight racers have caused me heel bruising on this section and the Pulsars were no different. On the plus side it wasn’t terrible and didn’t cause to chop my steps for long. But I’m not going to wear them in races I expect to last much over two hours or have long steep downhill sections.

 With a trail marathon coming up at the end of the month that means going with Salomon Ultraglides or hoping the new Asics Fuji Lites will do the trick.

 I had no problems with hydration or nutrition, but in a short race that’s not usually an issue. For the marathon I’ll just extend my use of Cranksport gels and powder, SIS super caffeinated gels and whatever the race provides.

 I’ve also now reached a point where I can usually keep my head in the game and focus on what pace I should be running at and not let the rabbits get me overly excited or getting passed throw me off.

 What’s been most surprising is how long it’s taken me to recover. It could be just that I haven’t raced in a multi-hour race and have forgotten, but it seems like I’ve been in a funk for a few days longer than I ever recall for such a short race. Could be age as well, as that seems to seep into all aspects of competition.

 But it’s time to get back out there again and enjoy.